:: fruity goodness

The raspberries are nearly ripe, so I threw some netting over them to keep the birds off. Mmmm, my mouth is watering ... I love raspberries. I may have to dig up the lawn and plant a raspberry forest. Chad's raspberries are already ripe, tsk. His allotment is much more open than my garden and is south-facing, so that might be it. Or it may be the high level of neglect and the overcrowding in my raspberry patch.

I planted some more beans at the weekend as well. I'd planted three previously but only one came up. It was immediately attacked by insects, so I sprayed it and it's finally grown high enough to start twining around the pole. So I should be eating my own beans sometime in December...

Pulled the first garlic at the weekend too -- but only after I'd strimmed its leaves off (a strimmer is a weedeater, kiwis). Coincidentally, I used the last of last year's garlic in a big pot of chili con carne that also featured home grown onions. Yes, indeedy, the world's most expensive onions. I planted 24 sets and so far have only harvested four onions. There are another four still struggling on, but one of them is only the size of a spring onion. It's Bertie's fault -- he trompled them down before I got around to putting up netting.

I'm going to rethink the garden layout over the winter. The vege bed isn't ideal, but the very best spot is also the very best spot for lying on with a book and a cold drink on hot, sunny days. I don't know if it's best to reposition the veges so there's a gap behind for Bertie to squeeze into for his keeping-an-eye-on-the-neighbours duties, or to build the bed up and barricade it thoroughly so he can't get in at all. At the moment the barricade makes it hard for me to get in and weed and so on, so it's a complete mess.

It needs some serious attention too: when I created the bed I used layers of newspaper to suppress weed growth. The paper was supposed to rot away like humus. Trouble is, it didn't, it's still there in thick, seedling-unfriendly wodges. So in the autumn, if I'm not going to move it, I'll need to give the whole bed a good seeing-to with the fork.

One radical idea is to cut back to just a big patch of garlic and maybe a few beans. And of course the fruit bushes. I'd like some plum trees too.

:: vroom vroom!

I got a new toy! An electric hedge trimmer. I've only got one stretch of hedge, so I've put off getting one; but clipping by hand is so hard! I end up with jelly arms. So I got a Black & Decker cheapo.

Walking Bertie this morning I told another dog-walker about my new trimmer. "Have you got a cut-out switch?" he said sternly. Apparently I need a special gizmo in case I trim through the cable, to avoid being electrocuted. The gizmo trips the fuse or something, so you don't lie there jerking and smoking and upsetting the neighbours.

But I'm way hard! I don't need no cut-off switch! Well I do, but you know, I'm into instant gratification. So as soon as I got home I got the trimmer out of its box and plugged it in. Va va vroom!

Then I massacred the hedge. It's like cutting your own hair: "ooh, it's a bit crooked, I'll just even up this bit here..." and next thing you're half bald. Also, I didn't have time to get down the ladder and do the top, so it looks insane, especially from the upstairs windows. So quick, though! and so easy.

:: faye update

I wrote a screed in here and lost it -- Blogger is upgrading and I'm not quite used to the new look yet and managed to hit the wrong button. Hey ho.

Anyway, Faye phoned and yes, she is still alive! John, she was thrilled to get the jade, thank you. She promises to sit down some time soon, very soon, and write letters to everyone. It's just she's been having email problems. There's something wrong with her Yahoo account (not sure what, but she's sent lots of emails and none have arrived) and she can't plug in her Emailer because the gent she works for gets upset if anything new or different happens (he has Alzheimers). She's going to a) try and track down a cyber cafe in Reading and b) get her own phone line, or at least a socket.

She's fine, otherwise -- the job is good, much better than her last one, and she's enjoying getting to know the area. If anyone wants her address, please email me.

:: open market

I was walking Bertie this afternoon, when a van coming towards me pulled up. This is normal in our street: often people are lost and need directions to Hopetoun House, Deep Sea World or some street I've never heard of.

But this time the driver said: "I don't know if you're interested, but we've just finished a delivery for Reid Furnishing and we had some left over. We've got a cream leather Italian three-piece suite we could let you have for less than it should be."

I said no thanks, he admired Bertie and off they went, heading for the marina.

We they just going to drive around offering the suite to people at random until they sold it? Was it stolen? Was the van stolen? Do I look like the kind of person who would buy a cream leather Italian three-piece suite off a couple of blokes in a van? Did they even have a suite?

In other news, Andrew is coming down this weekend. He's going to Glasgow on Friday night and probably will stay at his aunty's place in Edinburgh that night (they're up north at the moment). Then on Saturday we'll hang out. I called Kate and Robbie to see if they want to join us but they weren't in; I'll keep trying. Andrew's going back on Sunday, and I'm going to drive north after him and we'll go for a walk somewhere nice, like Dunkeld.

:: the green room

Some snaps:


That's me in the mirror.

The walls don't look as yellowy-green as they do in real life.

This is one I took just after I'd finished painting, before the furniture went back in.

:: clonk

After all my moaning about being too busy, blah blah blah, guess what I did yesterday afternoon? I read a book in the sun, then I slept in the sun. It was lovely. I felt refreshed by it. Earlier I'd taken Bertie on a very long walk in the hot sun & he'd conked out. I was just having a sit-down with a cold drink and a book before getting busy in the garden.

Yeah, right.

Suddenly it was half past five, and time for another walk. I still haven't done any more gardening, but I really must -- I noticed this morning that the aphids have moved on to the honeysuckle flowers. I've never seen that before! Another mad thing that's happening is the rose bush out the front. Last year I carefully pruned it again, but didn't feed it. I'd pruned and fed it the previous year, and I think I read somewhere you shouldn't feed them too much. But lo and behold, it grew an astounding amount of foliage -- much, much more than last year. And this week, out came the flowers: not pink tea roses like last year, but single wild-rose type blooms. This is obviously the root-stock going rampant. But why this year? I'm baffled. There are a few pink roses struggling through, but mostly it's white. It may be time to grub up the whole bush and put in something else. I'd love a philadelphus, or mock orange, it has a wonderful smell.

:: whisking right along

I'm going to stop apologising for not writing more often ... it takes up too much time!

So, highlights: lots of work. I'm getting used to the livingroom & it doesn't look too bad really. I did at one point get the photos of it open ready to resize and upload, and then was distracted by something or other (probably realising it was nearly time to leave for work and I still hadn't had a shower or walked the dog). The garden is going rampant except for the blackcurrants, which have been eaten nearly to death by aphids. Or something aphid-like. Weather: hot and muggy. Always windless on my days off.

Bertie's fine. Amusing annecdote: The other day on our regular morning walk Bertie found something disgusting -- large, dark, floppy, possibly animal in origin -- and ate it. I couldn't tell what it was because though I ran after him screaming, he sprinted ahead and crunched it down. Oh yes, it crunched. Later that same day a colleague was telling me he'd walked his dog in Queensferry and I told him about Bertie's snack. "Oh, it was a rabbit," the colleague said. "Ozzy [his dog] had a look at it." Ewww!! Small world. No digestive repercussions for Bertie, thank goodness.

Faye is alive and well and living in a village near Reading. Anyone wanting her address and phone number, see me.

It's time to go home, whew. This has been a particularly gruelling day -- I got called in early because whoever was meant to do the Birthday Honours List for the paper was off and hadn't told anyone it was happening and I'm one of the few people who knows how to do it. Knowledge is power, I muttered to myself as I beavered away, eyeballs burning. Ach well, it's a living.

: I am still alive!

I've just been busy, that's all. I had a few days off recently, during which I finally painted the livingroom. It wasn't a great success -- I couldn't bring myself to scrape the textured wallpaper off because I knew that underneath it would be all nicotine-stained and need serious scrubbing. But painting over the paper didn't turn out to be a particularly easy option: I had to use a brush and kind of stipple the paint on, to get into all the little crevices. And it used up twice as much paint as I'd anticipated.

Finally, though, after two gruelling days, I stood and contemplated four freshly painted walls. And thought -- "I don't like it."

It's supposed to be the same colour as my old flat, a warm pale green, but it looks more yellowish lime. I've taken some photos, including one from outside the room that shows how when the sun is shining, the room actually looks radioactive. I think light is the key -- the house is so much lighter than my flat was, sunk in the gloom of an Old Town gully.

However! I am not going to repaint so I will just have to thole it. It does look a bit better with all the furniture, pictures etc back in.

Also on my days off I did a major tidy-up in the garden, mowing and weeding like a fiend as the thunder grumbled. And I went to an exhibition of Mario Testino photos with Fiona, and to The Matrix Reloaded, and I visited Kate and Robbie and wee Calum (who is doing well) and went on lots of walks.

Since then I've been cleaning up after painting, moving furniture etc, walking the dog and trying to find new fittings for the curtains. Oh, and working!